education

On December 15, Barnard College, along with schools across the country, released the results of its Early Decision application process. We sent acceptance letters to 240 presumably happy young women and their families, generating a wonderful bubble of excitement in return. “Our entire family is ecstatic to learn that Isabel has been accepted to Barnard,” wrote one delighted grandmother to our admissions staff. “We are all calling each other, laughing and exclaiming with joy.” “We have all worked so hard to get here, so now we can breathe!” scribbled a young woman on our newly assembled Facebook page. “CONGRATS everyone! Barnard College Class of 2015, here we come!”

The contrast could not have been starker. On one day in August two glossy magazines showed up in my mailbox. One, the Barnard Magazine, showed three beautiful young women, elegantly dressed and beaming, holding champagne glasses and enjoying the festivities around their fifth reunion. The other,

TIME, depicted a once equally beautiful woman, looking out from her head shawl and into the camera, revealing nothing. Her nose had been cut clean off—punishment by the Taliban, the article explained, for having fled her abusive in-laws. The woman, Aisha, was 18.